Left looking up at champs

STOCKTON - One of the world's finest men's water polo teams put on an efficient exhibition on Wednesday at Chris Kjeldsen Pool.

Jagdip Dhillon

STOCKTON - One of the world's finest men's water polo teams put on an efficient exhibition on Wednesday at Chris Kjeldsen Pool.

Serbia - the 2013 FINA World League champions - controlled Game 1 of a four-game exhibition series with the United States with its quick passing and physical defense. The Serbians defeated the U.S. 13-6 before 683 fans at Pacific's aquatics complex. The teams split the match's first eight goals, but Serbia was clearly superior from there.

"We are aware there is a big gap between us and them," said U.S. coach Dejan Udovicic, who helped put most of the roster together as Serbia's head coach from 2006-12. "Serbia is the best team in the world. Most of their guys have been playing together since 2002 in youth leagues. Their youngest player is older than our oldest player. We challenged them for a quarter, and we're going in a good direction and this kind of game just helps us reach the level we're trying to get to."

Pacific's Alex Obert had the first goal for the U.S., but the Americans were outclassed in the final three quarters as Serbia outscored them 9-3. Obert said it was thrilling to get a goal in his home pool, but he came away impressed with Serbia's level of play. With the 2014 FINA World Super League Final looming June 14-21 in Dubai, Obert said this match showed how much work they have to do if they hope to compete in the eight-team tournament.

"If we want to do well in the world, we have to go through them," Obert said. "Every single guy on their team knows what the other ones are doing, so you have to always know where the ball is and stay aware."

Slobodan Nikic had four goals for Serbia, which also received two goals from Nikola Dedovic and Stefan Mitrovic. Josh Samuels and Alex Bowen had two goals apiece for the U.S., while Obert and John Mann had the other two scores.

Pacific's Ben Stevenson played limited minutes for the U.S. and Lodi High product Nic Carniglia saw action in the final three periods for the U.S., giving the 18-year-old a taste of top-level international competition. Udovicic said Carniglia will play for the junior national team at the world championships in Turkey in August and he's eager to see the Cal-bound freshman's skills the rest of the week with Game 2 of the series today at UC Davis and the final two games scheduled for Saturday at Cal and Sunday at Stanford.

"It was awesome and an honor to play with the top-level team," Carniglia said. "It's been a phenomenal experience."

There were numerous youth water polo clubs from around the region in the stands including Lodi, Stockton, Sacramento and Brentwood.

"We're big water polo fans and we wanted these kids to see that international flavor and that style of water polo," said Brentwood's Nick Araujo, who came with five kids and their families. "It's very physical and they said it was scary at first, but they all enjoyed it."